"child maintenance" refers to the financial support provided by one or both parents to help cover the costs of raising their child or children. This support is usually given to the parent who has primary custody or caregiving responsibilities for the child. It is meant to ensure that the child's needs, such as housing, food, clothing, and other essential expenses, are adequately met.
Full definition
Parents were asked about their types
of child maintenance arrangement and if they thought it was working well.
If you think your statutory payments are too high, you should contact the
statutory child maintenance service straight away and check that they have the correct information about your circumstances.
It typically takes between 1 - 3 months to put a court order
for child maintenance in place, depending on your circumstances.
For example, you could agree that the parent expected to
pay child maintenance pays for clothes, toys, school uniforms or activities such as swimming lessons.
You should check with your solicitor about updating any court order (if you have one) that contains previous agreements on
child maintenance payments.
For example, if you don't want to tell them your bank details, you can
arrange child maintenance using a money transfer service.
Since 1991, moreover, there have been over 70 changes to the rules
on child maintenance introduced through regulations.
Our client charter explains the service we will provide when dealing with
child maintenance cases and what this means for you.
As
with child maintenance, spousal maintenance is also expressed as an annual sum which is then paid monthly or weekly.
Note that the example private agreement offered
by Child Maintenance Options is not legally binding.
It will work out how
much child maintenance should be paid and it can arrange for the money to be paid, if you want it to.
If you and your partner maintain some financial interactions after a divorce, such
as child maintenance payments, however, these will remain open to future challenge.
This
new Child Maintenance Service will handle cases where parents can not make their own arrangements — but it will charge for the service.
Contact Child Maintenance Options for free information on setting up a family - based arrangement and getting help to agree payments.
Mediation provides a neutral problem solving approach where the problem of reaching a private
child maintenance agreement becomes the focus (rather than the relationship between the parents).
This means that all parents, including those receiving benefits, can set up a family -
based child maintenance arrangement if they both agree to it.
At Child Maintenance Options, we understand the concerns around the collection and use of personal information.
The formula for working
out child maintenance payments is the same when the parent is self - employed, although they then have to provide evidence of their income themselves.
Some also make broader use of motor vehicle databases, sharing information from this source with other government agencies for other purposes such as
child maintenance enforcement.
Many parents find it easier to work together with their child's other parent
once child maintenance has been sorted out.
We can also give you information to help you decide if your
current child maintenance arrangement is the best one for your circumstances.
If they are newly separated form a partner they may not be able to rely on
child maintenance because they can't afford to access the new system.
It also explains how the change may affect the amount of
child maintenance someone pays or receives and any payment arrangements.
It is preferable for parents to come to an agreement themselves over
child maintenance only involving the state where this is not possible.
It's best if the parent paying
child maintenance sets up a Standing order so that money is paid to the other parent regularly every week or month.
Phrases with «child maintenance»